


if time could only take us back

by stormchasers



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:28:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24702319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormchasers/pseuds/stormchasers
Summary: Nova fiddled with her bracelet as she walked the familiar streets she once knew. Once, her eyes had darted around, searching for threats and scanning for exits. Once, she’d known the rooftops of the city like they were her home. Those times were long past.It had been two years after the Battle of Gatlon, and Nova had done her best to forget everything that happened. She’d moved as far away from the city as possible, had gotten her own apartment, had lost touch with everyone she knew. She hadn’t been able to face it all: the vicious remarks made about her in the media, the sympathetic glances of her former team, the piercing glares of the other Renegades…So she didn’t. She disappeared.
Relationships: Nova Artino | Nightmare/Adrian Everhart | Sketch
Comments: 1
Kudos: 24





	if time could only take us back

**Author's Note:**

> so this was originally posted to tumblr (like... two days before supernova came out) and it's inspired by the song cologne by haux. talk to me on tumblr (@novasbi / @nova-artino)!!

Nova fiddled with her bracelet as she walked the familiar streets she once knew. Once, her eyes had darted around, searching for threats and scanning for exits. Once, she’d known the rooftops of the city like they were her home. Those times were long past.

It had been two years after the Battle of Gatlon, and Nova had done her best to forget everything that happened. She’d moved as far away from the city as possible, had gotten her own apartment, had lost touch with everyone she knew. She hadn’t been able to face it all: the vicious remarks made about her in the media, the sympathetic glances of her former team, the piercing glares of the other Renegades…

So she didn’t. She disappeared.

The past two years, she’d tried not to think about it all. But now, pacing the city once more, it all came back.

She remembered it all— Adrian fixing her bracelet at the parade, Danna visiting her at the hospital, the almost-kiss at Cosmopolis Park, laughing with the team, kissing Adrian, falling asleep… It almost made her regret running away. But then she could see Adrian’s face as he realized she was Nightmare, could remember how betrayed he’d been.

“Nova?”

It took her a second to realize that the voice was real. That voice… she’d recognize it anywhere. Even now, after time apart, after years of unresolved hatred, she still knew who it belonged to.

“Adrian?”

He was a little taller than she remembered him, but that was to be expected. His hair was a little longer, and his eyes were slightly softer. Otherwise, he looked almost exactly the same. But… something was still different. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been bruised and tired from the battle, wary and reluctant to trust her. The last time she’d seen him, she’d said a quick goodbye and then left. So much had changed in two years.

He no longer looked so lost, she decided. He’d become more confident, had grown into someone who didn’t need a suit to be brave.

“Nova,” Adrian said again. “You’re back.”

She smiled at him wryly. “Looks like I am.”

All the words they never said hung in the air between them.

“You’re taller,” Nova said, for lack of something better to say.

Adrian laughed softly. “I guess I am.” He inspected her for a moment. “I wish I could say you’ve gotten taller, too, but… you’re still short.”

Nova frowned at him.

“Are you… are you here to stay?” Adrian asked her. She knew it was just a polite way of asking her what she was doing here, but she pretended it was because he cared. Because he wanted her to stay.

“I don’t know,” she said at last. She wasn’t sure why she was here in the first place, let alone how long she would be there.

“The others miss you,” he told her. She wasn’t sure why he said it. It didn’t change anything.

“I find that hard to believe,” she replied.

“Danna and Ruby and Oscar. You weren’t part of the team very long, and…” Adrian trailed off. “But they really miss you. Danna especially. And Max. Sometimes I think even my dads wish you had stayed.”

_But do_ you _miss me?_

Nova bit back those words and struggled to say something else. “How have things been around here? With rebuilding and… everything.”

“Pretty well,” Adrian said. “Things have changed, thanks to you. They’ve started non-prodigy Renegade teams. Ruby’s brothers were the first to sign up.” Nova felt her lips curl into a small smile. “Most of the original council stepped down. They decided it was for the best. Kasumi’s still there, but the other seats were all voted in. They’re trying to remake the world. It’s not easy business, but it’s something.”

“Any progress on Operation Crown Jewels?” Nova asked teasingly.

Adrian laughed. “Yeah, actually. Took them about a month after the battle to figure it all out, but they’re finally dating. Actually, their two year anniversary is coming up next week.”

“I’m happy for them,” Nova said, and she meant it.

They stood there in silence for a moment.

“Nova?” Adrian said. She didn’t think anyone else had ever said her name that way. Only this one boy.

“Yeah?” she said softly.

“Did you ever… mean any of it?” He looked so vulnerable in that moment that he once again looked like the boy she once knew, the boy she had kissed in that bedroom so long ago, the boy she had tried to kill. The boy she had fallen in love with all that time ago.

“What do you mean?” she asked carefully, though she knew what he was asking.

“When you pretended you loved me.”

Nova closed her eyes and let the truth tumble from her tongue. After all, what does she have left to lose? “I wasn’t pretending.”

When she opened her eyes, they stood close enough that their lips would touch if she leaned forward. What would happen if she did that? If she let go? Would he catch her if she fell, or would he just watch her plummet the same way she had watched him two years ago?

“What _happened_ to us?” Adrian asked her, and she wished she knew.

“Nothing _happened_ ,” Nova told him. “We were just never meant to be. Maybe at some point we were, or we could have been in a different universe, but we’re here now.”

“What if we tried again?”

Nova shook her head. “That’s not how it works. We don’t get another chance.”

“Then why are you here?”

Nova turned away from him, ready to walk away. “Because it’s all I know! I’ll always go back to what’s familiar, even when I know it’s hurting me. But it’s also hurting you, so I have to let go. I’m setting you free.”

“Nova—”

She looked back. She couldn’t help herself. “For what it’s worth,” she murmured, “I meant all of it. And if we had a chance to start over, I’d take it in a heartbeat. If time could only take us back…”

“Would you?”

“What?”

“Take me back,” he said.

The star in Nova’s bracelet began to glow.

Memories flashed through her mind— that very first day at the parade, the feeling of skin on skin, a marker tracing lines… the sandwiches… dinner with his parents… the flowers he’d drawn for her… the almost-date back at Cosmopolis…

Nova gasped, and she was back, standing in front of Adrian.

“We lost sight then,” Adrian told her now. “But we could give it another try.”

Nova looked up at him, and maybe things hadn’t changed as much as she’d thought they had. After all, she was still in love with him, and everything else seemed unimportant in comparison. Maybe their younger selves were still there somewhere, the ghosts of what could have been.

“Take me back,” she said, and leaned forward.

As their lips met, the ash turned to flame.

Maybe, just maybe, they’d be alright this time.


End file.
